The Politics of Raajneeti

Half its star ensemble—Ajay Devgn, Nana Patekar, Naseeruddin Shah—boycotted the film’s publicity.

Recently, when director Prakash Jha went on a publicity blitzkrieg from Delhi to Dubai for his movie Raajneeti, only Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and Arjun Rampal from the cast accompanied him. Ajay Devgn, Nana Patekar and Naseeruddin Shah chose to stay out. It was not surprising. Politics between cast members and the director has dogged Raajneeti from shooting till release.

Relations first soured between old friends Patekar and Jha. Back in October last year, when Jha was wrapping up a schedule in Bhopal, Patekar had a disagreement with him. Onlookers described in a Mumbai tabloid how he allegedly caught Jha’s collar in anger before walking off disgustedly at how a scene was to be shot. Later, Jha spoke of how Patekar stubbornly refused to shoot anymore and demanded his ticket back to Mumbai. Ever mercurial, Patekar then tried to make peace and Jha admitted they had an uneasy patch-up during the dubbing. 

But when the film was ready, Patekar refused to attend the premiere and even skipped a trial screening for the cast. He’s remained silent throughout Raajneeti’s publicity, as has Shah.

Devgn and Manoj Bajpai, who play the characters of Karan and Duryodhana in this modern-day Mahabharat, have also been inconsequential to the film’s publicity. Devgn is said to have registered an early protest on the movie being falsely projected as a Ranbir-Katrina romance. Jha tried to appease Devgn by putting one of his dialogue promos on air, but alienated him further by hard-selling Raajneeti with only Ranbir, Katrina and Rampal. Devgn skipped Raajneeti’s premiere. “Ajay was upset with the publicity and the romantic angle, though he has nothing against Ranbir or Katrina,” says a source. “He felt Jha should not have sidelined him.”

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